MUSIC albums
ALBUM REVIEWS Continued. JAZZ
Stan Tracey
Solo:Trio (Cadillac SGCCD 06), * tr at *
John Jack's Cadillac Records celebrates its 25th anniversary of sWimming resolutely against the commercial tide in the name of promulgating good jazz with a superb offering from the indestructible Stan Tracey. The veteran pianist retains a remarkable appetite for exploring both the music and his instrument on the two excellent studio sessions represented here, made up of five searching piano solos and six trio cuts with his wholly in-tune rhythm section of Andy Cleyndert (bass) and Clark Tracey (drums). The results are wonderful, taking in homages-cum- creative reconstructions of Ellington and Monk, his re-workings of standards like What’s New and Body And Soul, as well as his own Lover’s Freeway. Recommended. (KM)
John Goldie
Turn And Twist (Jonjo OOlCD) * “k at The Airdrie-based guitarist John Goldie has been quietly building a name over the past couple of years, and if he is likely to be most familiar as the rhythm guitarist in Martin Taylor’s Spirit of Django, he has already proved that he is also an inventive soloist in his own right. This debut album, while not yet the finished article, confirms that impression in some style. With the exception of two solo pieces on acoustic guitar, he is heard in an occasionally slightly heavy-handed trio with Ewan Vernal (bass) and Jim Drummond (drums), playing a nicely balanced mixture of his own attractive tunes with jazz standards like Sonny Rollins’s O/eo and Antonio Carlos Jobim's lovely How Inserts/rive. Worth checking out. (KM)
DJ Krush & Toshinori Kondo
Ki-Oku (R & S) i s it Mr
Strict classification of this album is pointless since this perfectly balanced meeting of minds is equally at home in both the jazz and hip hop camps. An all Japanese collaboration between instrumental hip hop stylist DJ Krush and jazz trumpeter Toshinori Kondo, this is a beautifully realised collection
44 THE UST 20 Mar-2 Apr 1998
i'“\ ‘ .. t ‘ ‘5. .
of airy, minimalistic instrumentals. While Krush keeps the beats and scratches low key and inobtrusive, Kondo’s inspired way With electric, muted and echo flex trumpet produces a spacey mix that frequently echoes the sound of Tutu/Amandla era Miles DaVis. With the chill factor locked in overdrive the Krush/Kondo partnership effectively functions as a masterclass in mellow, understated groovology. (LT)
CLASSJCAL BBC SSO
Wallace: Creation Symphony (Hyperion) it x it e
The BBC SSO’s earliei recording of the symphonic poems of Scottish composer William Wallace (1860-1940) for this enterprising label is now followed by a second disc devoted to his music, This disc continues the rehabilitation of this somewhat neglected figure of the Late Romantic era in impressive fashion. The main work is his large-scale Creation Symphony, which had not been performed in the present century, accompanied by the equally obscure Prelude To The E umeni'des and Pe/leas and Mel/Sande Suite. Martyn Brabbins conducts the orchestra in these substantial works, which combine high craftsmanship with a strong sense of personal vision, and deserve to be better known. (KM)
Camera Obscura
Park And Ride (Andmoresound) w it sir
Dig out your Talulah Gosh pencil case and get down to the 13th Note, kids. Cutie pop lives! Well, it resides in Glasgow and cadges drinks off Belle And Sebastian Without quite working out how to sound as effortless as the Velvets. Next time. (RE)
The Jennifers
Jelly Belly (Human Condition) *iiw
Press release of the fortnight, though any mention of The Pastels would normally count for minus three stars. And the record’s not bad either. Perthshire scamps making a Husker Du-worthy noise with back-peddling Walter Softy chorus. (RE)
Midget: Supergrass without the whiskers
fi's'.‘
ROCK Bernard Butler People Move On (Creation) ‘x- it at
Bernard Butler: piano is not his forte
TWO singles into Bernard Butler's solo career and things are already taking on a rent-an-orchestra-but-leave-a-spacefor-the-hammy-guitar-solo hue. So how does the album shape up in comparison to the sound and fury signifying not a great deal of ’Stay’ and ’Not Alone"! Remarkably favourably, and that's even taking into account the 'Aibatross' of an opener 'Woman I Know’. Typical. You wait 25 years for Peter Green to reclaim his marbles, only for a younger ‘Man Of The World’ to outdo him on his return. Then young Butler casts down the gauntlet to Ocean Colour Scene with 'You Just Know', his preferred method of ripping off The Small Faces with pomp, bluster and, naturally, a guitar solo.
So far, it's not sounding good. Butler’s pretty, girly voice is never going to have his muscley guitar in a fight. Fortunately, the title track comes along to demonstrate what loveliness he can produce when the two parties are in harmony. and thus a pattern is set. Overlong, overwrought workouts like ’Autograph‘ equal crap, delicate acoustic levity like 'You Light My Fire’ equals dreamy, in a James Taylor kind of way. The skinny lad done not bad.
And I didn't mention Suede twice. (FS)
Midget
Invisible Balloon (Radar) it 9: Supergrass Without the whiskers, the pogo sticks or the imagination. Midget must enjoy telling people that you don't have to be mad to be in their band, but . . . Big in Belgium no doubt. (RE)
The Delgados
Everything Goes Around The Water (Chemikal Underground) “k at at at Top of the pile had it not been for those pesky kids and fellow Iabelmates Arab Strap. The Delgados are in great danger of givmg Glasgow DIY pop a good name with the gentlest of orchestral brushed moments. (RE)
Imogen Heap
Shine (Almo) at:
If Sheryl Crow went off on a trip hop odyssey, she might end up With something approximating this piece of corporate bilge. Never cared for her Uncle Uriah either. (RE)
The Kings Of Infinite Space
Cool (V2) iv e at
'Cool’ is about not being cool when you think you are. That or it may be
about an ice hockey player. Either way it has more angst in its pants than the
Jesus And Mary Chain. (RE)
Annie Christian
Love This Life (V2) the *
Debut single from Edinburgh’s dandiest whose singer's stage persona owes as much to Russell Harty as Iggy Pop. This slice of wanton rifferama comes over like the Psychedelic Furs having their arses felt. (RE)
Arab Strap
Here We Go (Chemikal Underground) it it * at at
So Aidan Moffat makes Tindersticks’ Stuart Staples sound like Sinatra. So this is pretty much 'The First Big Weekend’ Part Two. So this record lives beyond the valley of the superlatives. (RE)
Lotte
Empty (Adelphi) a: ‘k r:
Anybody for the Norwegian Cranberries it’s kosher to like? Hmm. Imagine Franc0ise Hardy (yeah, okay, she’s French) slumming it in a late night Soho bar With Suede. (RE)
REVIEWERS THIS ISSUE:
Roger Evans, Damien Love, Kenny Mathieson, Alan Morrison, Peter Ross, Fiona Shepherd, Lawrie Thomas, Jonathan Trew.
STAR RATINGS ii: 1* iv a * Unmissable * ‘k at it Very 00d t it ir Wort a shot r: r: Below average * You've been warned